


Home

by ashcat



Category: Strangers in Paradise
Genre: Angst, F/F, Gen, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-25
Updated: 2008-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-09 20:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashcat/pseuds/ashcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katchoo and Francine reflect on what home means to them during their 10-year separation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> Yuletide 2008 challenge fic for Green_peen

Katchoo leaned back on her plush sofa, sipping her hot chocolate. She can't help staring at the painting directly across from her; it's her favorite of her own work. It's Francine, of course it would be her. She's sitting perpendicular from the viewer on a large rock, her bare feet dangling in the stream below with Francine looking down at the water, presumably at her own reflection. The look on her face is subjective, Katchoo knows what she was thinking when she originally painted it, and most likely what Francine was thinking when she actually made the face Katchoo based the image on but otherwise it's up to the viewer to interpret. It's not a happy expression so much as a dreamy one. Francine's long hair is falling forward, obscuring most of her face but it reminds Katchoo clearly of all that she could have had.

Katchoo thinks about the times she'd almost convinced Francine to give her a chance. To give them a chance. Unfortunately, Francine never looked like this then, no that look was reserved for Brad. And damn, but that's a tough pill to swallow. To realize some man has beat her, some pansy doctor at that. It's like a play out of Ms. Peters' Southern belle handbook; daughter marries doctor, has baby, and lives in the mansion on the hill. Only thing Francine is missing is a son and possibly a dog. But, Francine is happy now. She's gotten the happily ever after she always wanted. And of course there's no pesky best friend from the wrong side of the tracks to mar the lovely image.

Katchoo wishes things had worked out differently. That she had figured out the magic formula to make Francine love her, to look at her that way, before she left her. That she could have figured out a way to save David. Hell if she's going to wish, she might as well have wished that her mom had had better taste in men so that she could have avoid all of that pain from her childhood. But then again, if her mom had had better taste in men, then she might not have been living under the power lines. She might not have been so desperate to be anywhere but home and then she might not have spent so much time at Francine's house. She might not have been the bad girl that attracted Francine originally to her. And if Katchoo hadn't had that shitty birthday gift, then she wouldn't have run away to California. Then she'd never had been on the streets for Emma to notice her. And without Emma's notice she'd never have met Darcy, and well there's a whole books worth of things she'd have avoided, but that also means she'd have never met David. And overall, David was a positive experience; he at least proved to her that not all men are evil and that some are worth loving. Even if she never could bring herself to love David like he wanted... no, needed her to. Despite all the drama and dishonesty, her and David had something special... just not as special as what she could have had with Francine.

If wishes were horses... then Katchoo would be sipping a nice red wine and Francine would be curled up on the other end of the sofa right now. They'd talk well into the night like they always used to do. Things would be comfortable and easy between them and maybe they'd go to bed together and maybe they wouldn't...either way Katchoo knows she'd feel at home. That she'd feel safe and loved and that it'd be enough... that she wouldn't have to sit here staring at a picture thinking about what might have been.

"Ah well," Katchoo muses as she lets her bare feet slide to the floor and begin carrying her towards her bedroom. Even if Francine isn't here in her Phoenix home, she can see her in her dreams tonight.

 

Francine sits on the settee by the window in her bedroom. She's wrapped up in her silk robe, it's haphazardly tied about her generous middle. The moonlight filters through the slats in the blinds, reflecting off the wine bottle cradled in her lap. Right now, that's the only solace she can offer herself, to sit here nursing a bottle and gazing out the window. It's a clear night; she can easily see the other mcmansions all around her own. It's a good neighborhood, it was recommended to Brad by other surgeons and doctors at the hospital and so here they are.

A drunk mommy, philandering daddy, and inquisitive baby girl. "A happy little family," Francine muses as she takes another swig from the bottle. She knows she's a hypocrite now, all that harping she'd done at Katchoo back when her friend fell off the wagon. Now, Francine understands what it's like to be so unhappy that a bottle is your only true respite.

Francine's eyes catch on the pale gleam of a neighbors pool and she thinks about the ocean, about Hawaii. It had been fun for her and Katchoo there, to see a small piece of Katchoo's past that wasn't tainted with blood and pain. Katchoo and Emma really had been happy there and it was nice to be able to hear about some good things that had happened to Katchoo, to hear her want to share her past with Francine without police or crime syndicates involved. She can still see Katchoo in her bikini, with her lily tattoo peaking out.

Francine lets her hand slip off the side of the bottle and onto her own breast, feeling her matching tattoo there. She's glad she got it even if Brad doesn't like it. Fuck Brad, it's her body and she can do whatever she wants with it. Be it drinking herself into a stupor or getting a tattoo to remind her of better days. Somewhere out there, Katchoo lives on, Francine thinks. She hopes that Katchoo is still painting, that she's let her own heart heal. Maybe David can be what Katchoo needs, what Francine never could be, what Francine was too cowardly to try to be.

Somehow, Francine thought that once she had the perfect husband, the big house, her daughter, all the things she'd dreamed about since she was a little girl... that things would be different. That she would be different. It's amazing how miserable you can feel once you get what you always wanted. How those dreams mean nothing when all you feel is numb, disconnected.

Now, she'd give anything if she could just be with Katchoo tonight. She'd tell her how much she's missed her, how much she still loves her. She'd say what has been on her mind for the past year, that Katchoo is the only home she's ever known and no matter what type of relationship they decide to have, that having a home to return to is more important than anything else. After all, she's only ever liked herself when looking through Katchoo's eyes.

To hell with it, she'll go find Katchoo.

But she has Ashley now. And, despite how miserable she feels she doesn't want to ruin Katchoo's happiness. Besides, with how fragile her ego is at this point, Francine knows she couldn't take being rejected. She doesn't want to see Katchoo and David blissfully living it up in Hawaii and know that she's just a specter from the past. They wouldn't want a dumpy thirty-something mother with kid in tow. And what about Brand, he's not a bad man overall. He loves her, or loved her at least in the beginning. This is her life, she's made her bed and now she has to lie in it as her Daddy used to say. So Francine finishes off the bottle and leans her head against the cool wall, letting her eyes stare out at the stars. She doesn't even bother to wipe the tears as they start to fall. Somewhere out there, Katchoo is looking at the same sky and for now that'll have to be enough.


End file.
